In The News
1. U.S. Health Officials Concerned Congress Will Not Approve Zika Funding Before Summer Recess
POLITICO: Congress will fight over guns, Zika as it sprints for recess
"With just one week left before they leave for a nearly two-month summer break, lawmakers will renew their fights over gun control and Zika money -- as Congress sprints to get out of town ahead of the political conventions and the height of campaign season..." (Kim et al., 7/10).
USA TODAY: Top health officials fear Congress will leave without approving Zika funds
"Top federal health officials fear Congress will leave town Friday without approving funds to combat Zika just as the summer mosquito season is peaking and money to fight the virus is about to run out. Mosquito control efforts and the development of a vaccine to protect against the disease could be derailed if lawmakers do not approve funding before they adjourn for a seven-week summer recess, warned Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in interviews with USA TODAY on Sunday..." (Kelly, 7/11).
2. Congressional Inaction On Zika, Other Global Health Preparedness Funding Increases Risks Of Future Outbreaks, Media Sources Report
Medill National Security Reporting Project/VICE News: This U.S. government program may have stopped Ebola -- but never had the funding it requested
"Six years ago, the scientist leading the U.S. government's program to catch diseases before they turn into global pandemics went to Capitol Hill with a map of the world. Dr. Scott Dowell was meeting with key congressional staffers to warn them about what he believed were gaping holes in the system designed to detect and contain infectious disease outbreaks, before they could kill thousands or potentially millions of people. In 2010, Dowell was leading the much-touted Global Disease Detection Program at the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Congress had established the GDD program in 2004, to 'protect the health of Americans and the global community by developing and strengthening public health capacity to rapidly detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases and bioterrorist threats.' ... Dowell wasn't the only one sounding the alarm..." (7/8).
POLITICO: Why Congress's Zika impasse could awaken Ebola menace
"While Congress dithers over the advancing Zika virus, another smoldering epidemic keeps threatening to burst back into flame. Ebola. Emergency funds to fight that deadly virus may run out in October because they were poached to fight Zika ... And that's a major problem because while Ebola has subsided as a threat, it hasn't ended. ... [T]he idea that Ebola is 'over' has colored the increasingly partisan stalemate on how much to spend on Zika and where the money should come from..." (Allen, 7/9).
3. The Hill Examines U.S. House’s Proposed ‘FEMA For Public Health’ Fund To Ward Off Future Disease Outbreaks
The Hill: GOP backs new fund for public health
"While Congress remains deadlocked over funding to fight the Zika virus, senior GOP leaders are working to head off yet another big public health funding fight. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), and others for weeks behind the scenes have been working on legislation to create an emergency fund for public health crises. They call it 'FEMA for public health,' a reference to the Federal Emergency Management Agency that helps communities hurt by disasters..." (Ferris, 7/10).
4. ODI Report Says More Action Needed To Implement SDGs; U.N. High-Level Forum To Meet This Week To Discuss Global Goals
Thomson Reuters Foundation: Urgency needed over U.N. goals to slash global poverty, inequality -- think tank
"A global commitment to combat extreme poverty and inequality agreed in a blaze of publicity last year needs to be put into action before it is too late, a U.K.-based think tank on development and humanitarian issues warned on Monday. The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) warned in a report that slow implementation of the U.N.'s global goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), would stall advances against rising global inequality..." (Silverstein, 7/11).
U.N. News Centre: Interview: Sustainable Development Goals must be owned by everyone, says senior U.N. official
"Ahead of [this] week's United Nations High-Level Political Forum, Assistant Secretary-General Thomas Gass talks about sustainable development, leaving no one behind, and why this time 'it's for real.' ... In an interview with the U.N. News Centre, Mr. Gass described the Political Forum as 'a space once a year where Member States and also the population can see how we are moving on the Sustainable Development Goals and take corrective measures to really achieve them within the next 15 years'..." (7/8).
5. El Niño’s Impacts On Children Set To Continue Despite End Of Weather Pattern, UNICEF Report Says
U.N. News Centre: 'Monster' El Niño subsides but impact on children set to worsen as disease, malnutrition spread -- UNICEF
"While the 2015-2016 El Niño -- one of the strongest on record -- has ended, its devastating impact on children is worsening, as hunger, malnutrition, and disease continue to increase following the severe droughts and floods spawned by the event, a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) revealed [Friday]. Making matters worse, there is a strong chance La Niña -- El Niño's flip side -- could strike at some stage this year, further exacerbating a severe humanitarian crisis that is affecting millions of children in some of the most vulnerable communities, UNICEF said in a report 'It's not over -- El Niño's impact on children'..." (7/8).
6. Australian Researchers Declare End Of Nation’s AIDS Epidemic, Credit Access To Treatment
International Business Times: Australian researchers say new 'miraculous' treatments are wiping out HIV
"Researchers in Australia say they now receive so few cases of people with HIV developing AIDS in any one year, they can say they have 'beaten' the disease..." (Piggot, 7/10).
Sydney Morning Herald: AIDS epidemic 'over' in Australia, say peak bodies
"...The number of annual cases of AIDS diagnoses is now so small, top researchers and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations have declared the public health issue to be over. ... Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute, told the ABC that antiretroviral medications had been crucial to the epidemic's decline, allowing people diagnosed with HIV to live healthy, long lives..." (Jeong, 7/11).
7. Predictable Funding, Rapid Response Team Critical To Eliminating Cholera In Haiti, U.N. Official Says
U.N. News Centre: Interview: Rapid response team, funding, vital to eliminating cholera in Haiti -- U.N. official
"A rapid response mechanism is crucial to tackling an endemic disease such as cholera and eliminating it in Haiti, the deputy head of the U.N. mission there said [Friday], emphasizing that the effectiveness of such efforts requires predictable financing. 'If we cannot have it [funding] in a predictable nature over the next five years, I believe that we are not having the best rapid response,' Mourad Wahba, deputy special representative for the U.N. Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) told the U.N. News Service..." (7/8).
8. Computer Algorithm Using Dengue Case Reports From Telephone Hotline Predicts Outbreaks, Study Shows
Thomson Reuters Foundation: In first, scientists use phones to track dengue outbreaks in poor nations
"Researchers have developed a new method to pinpoint outbreaks of dengue fever by tracking phone calls to public health hotlines, a team of scientists said on Friday. Analyzing patterns of calls in Pakistan's Punjab region, the researchers forecast suspected dengue cases up to two weeks ahead of time with block-by-block accuracy, the researchers said in a study published in the journal Science Advances..." (Malo, 7/8).
VOA News: Telephone Hotline in Pakistan Predicts Dengue Outbreaks
"...Researchers have created a computer algorithm that uses hotline reports from the public to help forecast the number of dengue cases, two to three weeks before there's an actual outbreak. By knowing how many people could become infected, public health officials can take preventive measures to limit the impact of dengue on a community. Lakshmi Subramanian, a professor of mathematical sciences at New York University, said the computer model is extremely accurate..." (Berman, 7/8).